Garbage is funny sometimes. The folks that tossed that handmade book of floral arrangements last spring didn’t throw out anything else for somewhere around a year. I kept an eye on the place regardless, because usually when a housed is cleared out or sold someone else will move in, renovations will take place, etc, after which you’ll rarely find anything else of interest on the curb. However, there was no such activity in this case. Anyways, as you probably expect by now, another good haul came a good year after the last one. This time it was a huge collection of photos, the most interesting of which I’ll share with you today.
It’s clear that the previous owner cared a lot about these photos and their family history. A great example is this group photo, which was stored in an envelope upon which someone drew a rough image of the photo, with all the names of the people in it listed (when possible, it seems). That would have taken a lot of effort.
My favourite photos were the ones in little antique frames. Those wood frames up top are particular cool, I hadn’t seen any like that previously.
According to the note on the back, this one features a soldier based in Morocco during WWI. The glass is nearly 1cm thick, which seems excessive though I suppose that makes the image pretty durable. This soldier appears in several other photos in this collection.
Here’s that same fellow again, this time in a wooden frame with the glass not intact.
I think I found two or three bags full of photos all in all, so this is a very condensed look. The photo on the left and right are also from WWI.
It seemed that this fellow had some French connections. I found a bit of stuff relating to an event attended by noteworthy French politicians, including former President & Prime Minister of France / then mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac. On the right is a photo signed by Chirac.
Last but not least we have a framed elementary school certificate from 1903. I brought it to the auction house, where it sold for a bit of money.
I suspect I won’t find anything else here, but you never know with garbage. Otherwise, I’ve been pretty lucky lately. In particular, after a summer bereft of quality jewelry hauls I’ve had several over the past couple of months… I’ll try to share some of those soon. Also, given that yard sale season is more or less done I’ve been working hard this week and last consolidating my remaining yard sale junk into lots of the auction, items for the free pile, and so on. I like to have lots of storage space available for the winter, and also a fresh supply of yard sale stuff in the spring. Anyways, that should all be done soon, and then I can get into “winter mode,” which involves more eBaying and (hopefully) more blogging.
What did you do with the photos? Its so sad to think of someone guarding this history only to have someone else just toss it. Is there a Provincial historic archive?
I still have most of the ones posted. I’ll sell them but not sure how yet.
For the mass of others, a lot went into the yard sale box. I usually keep all the b&w photos, and vintage up to the 70s or so. But newer stuff, especially from the 90s on I usually toss back in the trash. They are less interesting, more likely to have copies, and more problematic from a privacy perspective (I’m not so worry about photos from, say the 70s because the people in them are unlikely to be recognized).
Most archives don’t want bulk collections of photos. The older ones maybe, but most of these are from France and so not really of interest to a local archive.
Always thrilled when I see one of your posts in my Inbox. LOVE the old photos. So interesting!!!!
This reminds me of my dad, an only child, and careful guardian of family history. I have a similar family photo from 1903 – with his careful notation on the frame’s back of who’s who. And we all look alike!
Now I sleep atop those photos…and wonder what will happen to them when I leave the earth.
Sometimes I think about making them available to artists… hmm… I”M an artist. Hmmm….
Interesting. I am a Dumpster Diva myself and always have been since childhood treks to the town dump in the summertime.
What is your ebay name? I’d like to follow your site.
Mine is fraufritzgreen. I haven’t attended to it lately.
I link to it sometimes but here it is : https://www.ebay.ca/sch/yuhaiwing/m.html?_trksid=p3692
Yuhaiwing is something that made sense back in my college days, lol. But I haven’t changed it because why fix what ain’t broken?
Do you make a note of what good finds you find and where? So you can check up on it later. If not, you have a good mind for this job. Thanks again for sharing it with us.
I do keep notes. If I find good stuff outside of a certain house, that address makes the list and I check back on it weekly until the flow stops. I do have a good mind for the job/geography but would definitely forget some less notable (but potentially notable in the future) spots.
I like to do most of my posts “spot by spot” so I keep all my finds from certain houses stored together, most often at my garage so I can take pictures later (or not, if the spot ends up being less exciting than I hoped).
Those old frames are incredible. I love the thick glass and those two wooden ones are gorgeous. This is why I collect old things, they are designed so beautifully with such quality and materials. Thanks for sharing it all.
It’s so sad to how images like these are so cavalierly tossed into the dustbin of history. I’m glad you saved them. Those frames are glorious! What happens next with this type of archive find?
I’m always shocked when people throw away photos…our neighbor went into a facility…kids cleaned out house….i went thru trash…found a bunch of great stuff but also found family photos…i brought them to nursing home…wasn’t allowed in of course due to covid….employee called me after giving them to the gentleman…she said he cried…he was so happy to see them…why would his kids throw them away?? I’m glad I found them….
That’s sad to hear. Sounds kinda heartless to toss this man’s photos if he still cared for them. Makes me wonder if some kind of elder abuse is involved, ie: they sent him to live in a home mostly so they could sell the house and keep the cash.